Men, the part that I want to focus on is there in verse 5 where the Bible reads, God forbid
that I should justify you.
Till I die, I will not remove mine integrity from me.
And the subject that I want to preach on this morning is integrity, integrity.
And I may be preaching a few other sermons over the next few weeks or months at various
times about having character.
And one of the things that we need to have as a part of our character is we need
to have integrity.
Integrity is brought up many times in the Bible, but let me just start out by giving
you the dictionary definition.
The dictionary says, adherence to moral and ethical principles, soundness of moral
character, honesty.
And if you think about the word integrity, the first thing that comes to my mind is
back when I was in math class and we learned about integers.
Who knows what I'm talking about?
And that's, you know, from the same Latin word here, and it has to do with it being
the whole number, okay, an integer, it's not a fraction or something like that.
Well, integrity is soundness or wholeness because of the fact that it has to do with
doing what's right all of the time, not just some of the time.
And it has to do with following principles of right and wrong in every situation, not
just in certain situations, but just consistently doing what's right and following principles,
morals, God's commandments, righteousness, whatever you want to call it, all the time
and in every situation.
This is known as having integrity.
Now also when we talk about integrity, we can even talk about just physical objects
that have integrity or don't have integrity.
You know, I think about tools or work materials and sometimes you buy tools or building materials
that don't have any integrity and then other times you buy them that are sound
materials.
You know, for example, one time I bought a shovel and I started digging with the shovel
and the shovel just started bending and then I returned it to Home Depot and the lady
behind the car said, why are you returning this shovel?
And I just said, this is why and I just went and just bent it with my hand.
I said, you know, I shouldn't be able to do that to a shovel.
I shouldn't be able to just bend it with my own bare hands.
I'm not some kind of a strong man or something on TV here.
Okay.
This shovel is garbage, right?
But you know what?
That's how a lot of people are.
They put forth themselves as being one thing and there's something else.
On the outside, they look right, but they don't have any integrity.
There's nothing there.
They're fake.
They're not consistent.
Also, I know when I was in construction, drill bits often lacked integrity and I can
remember buying the cheap drill bits.
You can't even drill a single hole and those things are dull because they're made
out of some cheap metal alloy that's fake and just melts and is destroyed.
Other times you get one good drill bit, you could use that thing for years and
just drill hole after hole after hole and it just keeps working.
Why?
Because not only does that drill bit have integrity, the company that made that drill
bit had integrity and they actually sold a right product that was actually quality.
They're not just trying to steal your money, take the money and run and they give you
a piece of junk product and nuts to you and they don't care about the customer.
They don't care about having quality work.
Well, guess what?
It's not just drill bits or tools.
It's also food.
I mean, there's food that has no integrity, right?
Food that's just filled with chemicals and additives and then they just use the cheapest
possible ingredients and then just put some artificial flavor to make it taste like
it's good food when really it's junk, that they're just masking the flavor with
that which is artificial.
Clothing is the same way, right?
You buy a pair of socks and it just gets holes in it immediately.
Another pair of socks will last longer.
Why?
Because it has integrity, because the people who made it have integrity.
That's what integrity means.
Now, let's take that and look at what the Bible says here in Job, chapter number
27.
Look what he says in verse 3, all the while my breath is in me and the Spirit
of God is in my nostrils.
My lips shall not speak wickedness nor my tongue utter deceit.
God forbid that I should justify you.
Till I die, I will not remove mine integrity from me.
My righteousness I hold fast and will not let it go.
My heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.
So again, when we talked about the definition of integrity and we talked about it as soundness
or wholeness, what's Job saying here?
He's going to be consistent, right?
He's going to stick with his principles in the good times and the bad times.
He's going to tell the truth.
He's not going to be a deceiver.
He's not going to forsake God's commandments or God's word.
He is going to stay with it.
He's going to hold it fast until he dies.
He's not going to remove his integrity from him.
Integrity was important to Job.
Let's keep reading and let's get a contrast with what the wicked are like.
Verse 7, let my enemy be as the wicked and he that riseth up against me as the unrighteous.
For what is the hope of the hypocrite, this is the opposite of someone with integrity,
right?
A hypocrite.
Portraying themselves as one thing, doing something different.
What is the hope of the hypocrite though he hath gained when God taketh away his
soul?
Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon him?
Will he delight himself in the Almighty?
Will he always call upon God?
You see, there are two kinds of people.
There's the person who cries to God when trouble comes upon them, verse 9.
And then there's the person in verse 10 who always calls upon God.
You see that?
The person who has integrity is consistent, they tell the truth, they're honest, they
follow God's word, they're not a deceiver, they're not a hypocrite, and they don't
just call on God when they're in trouble.
They always call on God because that's a part of who they are.
They are a solid character.
Let's look at some other verses elsewhere in the book of Job.
I'm going to flip over to Job chapter 2.
While you're flipping over to Job chapter 2, I'm going to read for you from Job 31.
Job 31 verse 6 says, Let me be weighed in an even balance that God may know mine
integrity.
Let me be weighed in an even balance that God may know mine integrity.
Now what does weight have to do with integrity?
Let's go back to our illustration about tools or construction materials.
Or in fact, my wife, she just bought a frying pan that she was really excited about, and
she kept saying, Feel how heavy this thing is.
Isn't this great?
And, you know, right now a lot of people are getting back to using cast iron.
And boy, that stuff is heavy, isn't it?
Why?
Because it has integrity.
That's why.
And, you know, you could weigh that in a balance and see the integrity of that metal,
see the integrity of that kitchen tool versus some cheap junk that you would buy that's
as light as a feather.
Why?
Because it's junk.
That's why.
And that's why this cast iron is being resurrected from literally 100 years ago.
Even items that haven't been manufactured in almost a century are being pulled out
and reused, and it's all the rage right now cooking with cast iron.
People are getting back to a metal object in the kitchen that has integrity.
So what are you like?
Are you a cast iron kind of a Christian?
Or are you a light person?
What the Bible calls a light and vain person.
You're like the made in China thin metal that you can just bend with your bare hands
and it's spray with Teflon or whatever to get a non-stick instead of having a real
intrinsic non-stick of being well seasoned cast iron, right?
You know, you got your Teflon and your cheap made in China garbage and the Teflon's
flaking off.
And then you're like, wait, I don't remember peppering these scrambled eggs, but yet they're
covered in little black dots.
Yeah, that's all the Teflon chemical garbage that came off the pan onto your
eggs, right?
Who knows what I'm talking about where the cheap Teflon pan starts like shedding
its Teflon.
Yeah.
I've swallowed plenty of it in my life.
It was before I was married though, okay.
Don't blame my wife.
Job 2 verse 3, and the Lord said unto Satan, hast thou considered my servant Job that there
is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God and
escheweth evil, and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou moveth me against
him to destroy him without cause.
What's the thing that God praises Job for in his trials and tribulations?
Boy, isn't it great how he still retains his integrity.
You know what?
You can lose your money.
You can lose your job.
You can lose everything, but you can still always hold onto your integrity.
People can look at you and say, oh, you're a failure, or oh, you're poor, or you're
a loser, or whatever, but you know what?
If you have your integrity, God's pleased with you.
God will look down at you and say, you know what?
Look how he is.
Yeah, I know he's poor.
I know that his family died.
I know that he lost his business, but look how he holds onto his integrity.
There's none like him in all the earth.
That's what God respects is integrity, being real, having soundness, being solid, being
the real genuine article, not some fake made in China knockoff, but being the real
thing, not some cheap metal alloy that's watered down with other lighter metals instead
of being what you expect, stainless steel or cast iron or whatever.
Look what Job's wife said to him in chapter two, verse nine.
Now, of course, she's got some serious problems here, but she recognizes the fact
that Job's got integrity.
Even people around him, even the critics around him understand that he has integrity.
Then said his wife unto him, dost thou still retain mine integrity?
Curse God and die.
All right, so Job was known for what?
He was known for his integrity, chapter two, chapter 27, chapter 31.
That's a theme that comes up in the book of Job, Job's integrity.
Go to Psalm 15.
Now, Psalm 15 does not specifically bring up the word integrity.
We're going to look up a lot of other verses that do bring up integrity, but the
concept of integrity is found in Psalm 15 as well.
I think it's a great Psalm to illustrate this point.
Psalm 15, Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle?
Who shall dwell in thy holy hill?
Boy, there are people that come and go, aren't there, from God's house.
And then there are the people that are steadfast, that are unmovable, that are consistent,
that stay there.
Lord, who shall abide, meaning remain, still be there in thy tabernacle?
Who shall dwell in thy holy hill?
He that walketh uprightly and worketh righteousness and speaketh the truth in his heart, he that
backbighteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbor, nor taketh up a reproach
against his neighbor, in whose eyes a vile person is contempt.
Contempt means the verb form of contempt, right?
Contempt is disgust or hatred for something.
He's saying in whose eyes a vile person is contempt, meaning that they're disgusted
by them or hate that person.
And it says, but he honoreth them that fear the Lord, and this is the part that
I think is the most powerful part.
He that sweareth to his own hurt and changeth not.
This is when you commit to do something and it ends up being painful to you or causing
you problems or harming you, but you do it anyway because you said you were going
to do it.
You know what that is?
That's integrity.
Integrity is what you do, what you say you're going to do.
You know, there are times when I throw something out there, hey, I'm going to do this, or
I make some kind of a commitment, and then later I think about that, I don't know if
I want to do that, but you know what, I have to do it because I said that I was
going to do it.
If I said I'm going to help so and so with this, or if I committed to helping finance
this or do this or be a part of this, or I said I'm going to go to this event
or I'm going to participate in this, you know what?
Integrity says do what you say you will do, and especially if you swear to do it.
Now it's better if we just swear not at all, amen?
But there are some times when we would swear to do something, boy, you better make sure
you do that.
And even if you swear to your own hurt, change not.
Don't back down on it.
Now I worked in construction for many years, and in construction this is a big deal.
Why?
Because there are contracts.
In fact, people who build things are known as contractors.
Why are they called a contractor or a general contractor?
Because everything about construction has to do with contracts or agreements where someone
commits to doing a certain work for a certain amount of money.
Well, you know what happens a lot of the time?
Things are accidentally left out of a contract.
Or the contractor will give an estimate or a quote to get a certain amount of work
done, and he commits and promises he's going to get the whole job done for that amount,
but then when he gets into the work, he finds that there's some obstacle that he did
not anticipate.
There's some problem where it's going to cost him more than he thought it would.
And this is why, when you're a contractor, you have to go and tour the site and look
at everything and make sure you understand everything that you're getting into.
Because if you say you're going to do the job for $20,000 and then you get halfway
in and then realize, oh, wait, I forgot to account for this.
Oh, wait, I forgot about this material I was going to buy.
You can't then go to the customer and say, oh, by the way, I have to charge you extra.
Well, no, that's not how it works.
Now, there are other industries where it does work that way.
There are other industries of service and repair and other things, but when it comes
to building things, that's not how it works.
I mean, if you say we're going to build the building for this amount, there has
to be a change order or you have to stick with what you said you were going to do.
And there are contractors who will make an agreement to build a certain building and
to do something, and they actually end up losing money because they underbid the job.
They accidentally bid the job too low or there were changes that they didn't anticipate
and now you know what they have to do?
They have to eat that.
And you know what they do?
They do a good job anyway because they have integrity.
Does everybody understand?
And they say, look, I committed to doing this.
I made a mistake.
I have to do it for that price because I have integrity.
That's what I said I would charge and whatever.
Now, again, there are other industries that are different where, you know, you make changes
or where you don't make those kind of commitments.
But when you're in construction, I mean, these things are set in stone.
And there would always be that thing that comes up that's in nobody's contract.
You know, I remember because I was the fire alarm guy, okay, and I would also do other low
voltage stuff sometimes like card access and things like that.
And there would be the door guy and the electrician and the low voltage guy and it's like, who's
going to install the electric mag locks in the doors?
It's not in anybody's contract.
It's not in my contract.
It's not in his contract.
It's not even, and nobody wants to pay for it, right?
So I would always step up and say, hey, I'll do it.
You know, and I would just charge, I'd say, I'll do it for a hundred bucks or something.
You know, let's just make it easy for you.
Give me a change order for a hundred bucks and I'll do it, right?
People will be always like, I owe you a case of beer.
And I'm like, hey, I don't drink.
All right.
You know, or if it was something stupid or easy, sometimes you just do it.
You know, if it's going to take you 20 minutes to say, hey, I'll just do it.
It's no big deal.
Let me do it.
But I'm telling you when people give a quote and an estimate, sometimes they swear
to their own hurt when they sign on that because they end up working hard to lose
money.
I can't even count how many times I have lost money on a job.
I've gone and done a job and lost money, right?
But that's what I committed to doing.
That's what I said I would do.
That's what I did, right?
And then God will bless you on other jobs where you make a killing on other jobs and
then it kind of balances out.
But you got to have integrity when you give your word, when you shake your hand and
say, I'm going to do X for X amount of money.
You can't, I can't do it for that price.
You already made that commitment.
You already said that you would, and this is where a lot of the conflict comes from
in the business world and in the construction industry.
But here's an example that we can all relate to because some of you are thinking
like, I don't know what you're talking about because I'm not in construction.
Who's in construction and knows exactly what I'm talking about, right?
There's several people.
So what about this?
Here's something that almost everybody can relate to.
How about marriage?
How about if you swear to your own hurt by getting married and then things go sour
but you change not?
That's integrity right there.
You know, lack of integrity is when you get married and your husband does something
wrong, your wife does something wrong or they change or they do something wicked
and you say, oh, well, this isn't what I bargained for.
Oh, really?
Because you said for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer.
You said in sickness as in health and poverty as in wealth and forsaking all others, I'm
going to keep me only unto him or her so long as we both shall live.
That's what you promised.
Now hopefully when you made that promise, you didn't swear to your own hurt.
Hopefully you swore to your own blessing when you got married and that, you know,
I hope your marriage is a blessing.
I hope that you love being married.
But you know what?
If you have a low point in your marriage or if you have sworn to your own hurt, hey, change not.
Be blessed by God and have integrity do what you say you will do.
If you promise to love and to cherish and to provide, do it.
If you promise to love and to cherish and obey, do it.
Have integrity in the business world.
Have integrity in your marriage.
Have integrity in your personal life.
When you make commitments, fulfill those commitments.
It's very important that you fulfill your commitments.
That's what it means to have integrity.
He swears to his own hurt and changes not.
Let's just finish the psalm.
Verse 5, he that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the
innocent, he that doeth these things shall never be moved.
Wouldn't that be a great testimony?
That you're never moved, that you abide in the tabernacle.
Putting your money out to usury is a lack of integrity.
Making money through hard work is integrity.
Making money through ripping people off and scamming people and being a usurer and a
predatory lender, that is not integrity.
That's a lack of integrity here.
That's why this psalm illustrates that point so beautifully.
Go to Amos Chapter 8.
Amos Chapter 8, integrity in business, integrity in marriage, integrity in every part of our
lives, we should have integrity all the time.
Even something as simple as just playing a board game or playing sports, have integrity.
Don't cheat.
If you're in school, have integrity.
Don't cheat in school.
Don't look at someone else's test.
Don't copy someone else's homework.
And those of you that are homeschooled, just because you're homeschooled, that doesn't
make cheating any more or less grievous.
It's still cheating if you're homeschooled and you're copying the answers out of the
back of the book or you're copying from your brothers and sisters.
However you choose to cheat, that is a lack of integrity and it's wicked.
And you know, when the person next to you wants to cheat off your paper and you
let them do that, that's cheating too, by the way.
You don't have to be the recipient of the answers because I was often the one that
people tried to cheat off my paper, okay?
And you know what?
I refuse to do it because I felt that if I showed them my answers, then I'm cheating
for them.
I don't have integrity.
And you know what?
Sometimes that's going to get you made fun of as, you know, oh, you're goody two
shoes, holier than thou, you're square or whatever, you know, for those of you that
are in the older generation.
The point is people are sometimes going to ridicule you or make fun of you for not letting
them cheat off your paper.
Who's ever had that happen?
Somebody tried to cheat off your paper and they got mad when you told them no.
Yeah, it happens all the time.
It's a lack of integrity to copy their paper and it's a lack of integrity to let
them cheat off of yours.
You know, and by the way, whenever you cheat, you know who you're really cheating is yourself
because you're the one who's going to graduate from high school a complete idiot.
And there are all kinds of people today graduating from high school, hey, look, I got this
diploma.
So what?
Nobody cares about your diploma.
You're dumb as a brick.
Nobody cares about your diploma.
Why?
Because you cheated your way through school because you didn't actually do the work.
And you know, if there's some reading assignment, don't say that you read it unless you read
it.
If you have to sign, hey, I read the whole book or I read the chapter, don't you
dare sign that unless you did that reading and not just some speed read or, I mean,
you actually need to do that reading.
And if you don't, you know, the biggest person you're cheating is yourself because
you're the one who's not getting that learning.
You're the one who's not getting that information.
And you might think that history and science and math and English don't matter, but they're
going to matter to you for the rest of your life unless you just want to be an
ignorant, foolish person.
Learning and wisdom and knowledge are things that God prizes very highly.
We should seek after knowledge, understanding, wisdom.
Don't cheat yourself in school.
Don't cheat yourself in home school.
Don't cheat yourself by cheating, okay, because that's who you're really cheating.
And you know, the same thing with athletics or games or anything like that.
There's no glory in winning when you cheated.
It's better to lose righteously and fairly than to cheat to win.
You know, it's funny.
We were, several weeks ago, myself and Brother Caleb and Brother Charlie, we did this 100
mile bicycle ride.
I mean, the time it took us to do it was just ridiculous, because none of us is a world
class cyclist.
I'll put it that way.
So you know, it took us a really long time to get done.
But you know, when we finally got done with bicycling 100 miles, I looked at them
and I said, you know what?
All three of us are greater athletes than Lance Armstrong, because we're not cheaters.
Because we have integrity.
It doesn't matter how ridiculously long it took us to get this done.
We have integrity, and I would rather be in last place with integrity than to be Lance
Armstrong, a lying, cheating scumbag, is what he is, okay?
He cheated for years and years and years, and then he attacked and lashed out at anybody
who confronted him about it.
Called them all kinds of names and said that they're evil and they're bad and they're
wicked, when he was the biggest cheater in the history of sports.
I mean, the guy was cheating in three different ways, consistently.
Number one, he's taken steroids in the off season.
And you know what?
If you take steroids, you're cheating yourself.
That stuff destroys your body and destroys your mind.
You young people don't ever even think about taking steroids as one of the stupidest
things that you could ever do.
Taking these performance enhancing drugs is so foolish.
But steroids specifically, folks, it's a mind altering drug.
Have you ever heard of roid rage?
Not only that, it destroys your reproductive anatomy, your reproductive system.
I don't know about you, but I want my reproductive anatomy to be left alone.
I don't want to take some chemical into my body that's going to mess up that part
of my body.
And you know what?
It's no coincidence that Lance Armstrong had to have one of his stones removed because
it was filled with cancer because he was taking steroids.
And that stuff goes straight to that part of your body and damages it.
It damages that part of your body.
It's just the main side effect.
It's horrible, folks.
Not only that, but it makes people do crazy things because it messes with their mind.
Okay?
Hormones, when you're taking these hormones or synthetic hormones or hormone replacement,
that stuff has a mind altering effect.
Have you ever noticed that women, when they get hormonal, it affects their mind?
So what do you think's going to happen when you're pumping your body with a bunch
of anabolic steroids?
Guess what?
It's going to mess up your mind.
And it's going to mess up your physical anatomy.
It's going to mess with your reproductive system.
It's not worth it.
Once you can just have big muscles or win this race or whatever, it's vanity of
vanity.
Stay at the preacher.
All is vanity.
And you know, there's no glory in winning when you have to look at yourself in the
mirror and know that you cheated and that you're fake.
And a lot of these guys, they're cheating in professional sports today.
They take steroids during the off season.
And then when they get tested for steroids, they pass because during the season when they
perform, they're not on the steroids.
They take the steroids in the off season, build all the muscles, build all the endurance,
and then they can use that when they go to compete.
So number one, Lance Armstrong was taking steroids in the off season.
Number two, he was taking a drug that would basically cause him to have more red blood
cells so that he could get more oxygen going to his muscles so he could perform better.
And number three, he was doing this crazy thing where he would get blood transfusions
every night.
So what he would do was while he was strong and healthy and not tired at all, he would
donate blood for himself.
And then they would take that fresh oxygenated healthy blood that didn't have all the lactic
acid and all that, and they would take that and store that.
And then he'd bicycle all day in the Tour de France.
Then that night, he'd get on a private jet and fly somewhere, get a blood transfusion
of his own blood, taking out the tired, exhausted, lactate-filled, oxygen depleted
blood and put in fresh Lance Armstrong blood from in the off season.
And then he just, next morning, he's just ready to ride.
And you know what?
He wasn't the only one doing it.
In fact, they theorized that if you actually gave the guy the medal who actually won fairly
without cheating, it was really the guy who was in like 15th place.
The guy in 15th place was the real winner because the first 14 guys are cheaters.
And you know what?
They're scum is what they are.
They have no integrity.
I don't have respect for these professional athletes who cheat.
It's disgusting.
It's evil.
It ruins the sport.
It ruins the fun.
It ruins everything.
You know, and I'm not even a fan of professional sports in the first place because you know
what?
Sports are a game.
It's something for fun.
It shouldn't be our life, okay?
I'm not against sports as recreation, as exercise.
But you know what?
Do it fairly.
Do it with integrity.
And I would rather lose a thousand times and know that I had integrity than to have
the glory of winning.
It's empty glory.
And God looks down.
He's not pleased.
Now let's go, if you would, to Amos Chapter 8.
I think I already had you turn there.
Look at verse 4.
Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail,
saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn?
And the Sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small and the shekel great,
and falsifying the balances by deceit, that we may buy the poor for silver and
the needy for a pair of shoes, yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat.
The Lord hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of
their works.
You know, God is angry when people don't have integrity.
He said, I'll never forget any of their works.
He's mad about the fact that they're doing what?
They're operating their business without integrity.
First of all, the Bible starts out by saying, in verse 4, that they want to swallow up
the needy.
They don't love the poor.
They don't care about who they hurt.
They just want to make money for themselves.
Then in verse 5, he talks about the fact that they just can't wait for church to
be over.
They just can't wait for the Sabbath and the new moon to be over because all they care
about is business.
They don't care about the Lord.
They don't care about worshipping the Lord.
They're just waiting for church to get out so they can go do what they really
care about, make money at the expense of other people.
And then it says that they make the ephos small and the shekel great.
What does that mean?
Well, the shekel is that unit of weight that you would purchase with, shekels of
silver, right?
So this is a unit of measurement for money or coins, right?
This is before paper money, so they're using coins.
And then the ephah is a unit of measurement for dry goods.
This is what you would weigh out, wheat or barley or other grains, okay?
So basically what's going on is the shekel, making the ephah small and the shekel great
is that basically they have to put in a lot of money to get a little bit of a product,
okay?
So what these people would do, and the Bible condemns this in the Mosaic Law as well,
is that they would have diverse weights and measures, a great and a small.
Who remembers reading that in the Bible, you know, the diverse measures?
So basically, you know, a cup has eight fluid ounces or whatever the measurement,
but they have two cups.
One measuring cup that's a little big, one measuring cup that's a little small, and
it depends on whether they're on the giving or the receiving end, so they can always
get a little more than they're giving.
So when they're selling something to you, they're making the ephah small, meaning that, oh yeah,
there's an ephah, but it's not really an ephah.
It's a little bit less than an ephah because they're ripping you off a little bit, right?
They're not giving you that full, let's say it's supposed to be 16 ounces, they're
giving you 15 ounces because they have falsified weights and measures.
How would you like it if you went to buy gas and you paid money and every time
it tells you you're getting a gallon, you're really getting nine-tenths of a gallon?
Well, that'd make you mad, wouldn't it?
That's why there's stickers all over the gas pump saying, hey, this has been tested,
it's been certified by the Department of Weights and Measures to make sure that you're actually
getting a gallon, okay?
Or you wouldn't want to go buy a gallon of milk and it's a little less than a gallon,
right?
So they're making the ephah small and the shekel great, meaning that you have to,
they're saying, okay, now you've given me a shekel, and you're actually giving
them a little more than a shekel, because their weights are tampered with.
They're making the shekel great, making you pay more and get less.
These are people with no integrity.
He said, they make the ephah small and the shekel great, verse 5 at the end, and falsifying
the balances by deceit, because you weigh things in a scale with balances, that we
may buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of shoes, yea, and sell the refuse
of the wheat.
You know what they're doing?
They're selling people trash, the refuse of the wheat, the stuff that was a bad quality
that should have been thrown in the trash.
You know, they look at certain food items, meat, fruits, vegetables, and you look at
it and you're like, this is junk.
This is trash.
Okay, let's sell this, right?
Let's sell it.
Maybe we can put some coloring, food coloring on it.
You know, this meat that's like gray and ugly.
Maybe we can like make it red somehow with some chemical to make it look like it's
some nice beautiful red piece of meat, instead of being some gray washed out old thing.
You know, isn't that wicked?
What do we, you know, God wants food with integrity, clothing with integrity, products
with integrity, but you know what, I don't care what industry you're in, I don't care
what you do for a living, you better do it unto the Lord and have integrity.
You know, as a preacher, I need to have integrity.
What does that mean?
That means that I preach the truth all the time.
I never get up and lie and deceive, or well, when it's popular, I'll preach what's
true, but when it's not, I'll back down.
No, having integrity as a preacher is being instant in season and out of season, right?
Having integrity is preaching the truth even when it hurts me.
Even if it gets me into trouble.
Even if it makes people get angry at me, or leave the church, or even if I get slapped
with a fine from the government or something, you know, I'm still going to do it because
of integrity.
And you know what, preachers who don't have integrity need to just stop preaching.
If they can't get up and preach the whole Bible with integrity, then they need to step
down and get a secular job and do that job with integrity.
Because I'd rather be a landscaper with integrity than a pastor without integrity.
I'd rather be a plumber, or an electrician, or a carpenter, or a computer programmer,
or whatever with integrity.
I'd rather be a garbage collector with integrity than a pastor with no integrity.
And God has way more respect for the trash man with integrity than the pastor with no
integrity any day of the week.
Any day of the week.
God values integrity.
As we finish up here, let me just run through a whole bunch of verses on integrity
from Psalms and Proverbs.
You don't have to turn to these.
But Psalm 7, verse 8, the Lord shall judge the people, judge me, O Lord, according to
my righteousness and according to my integrity that is in me.
See, the person who has integrity, they're not afraid for God to examine them and judge them.
Because they know that they have integrity.
He said in Psalm 25, verse 21, let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait on thee.
Psalm 26, verse 1, judge me, O Lord, for I've walked in my integrity, I've trusted
also in the Lord, therefore I shall not slide.
Okay, you're not going to slide when you have integrity, right?
Because you're solid, you're the real deal, you're the genuine article.
That's what we ought to strive for in our lives.
And especially you children and young people, decide right now, I am going to be a man
or woman of integrity.
This is going to be one of my core values of who I am.
You know, young people, they're trying to figure out who they are.
Well just figure out right now that you're going to be a person who has integrity.
Because that's one of the most important decisions you can make in your life, is to have integrity.
Verse 20, verse 11 of chapter 26, but as for me, I will walk in my integrity, redeem
me and be merciful unto me.
Psalm 41, 12, as for me, thou upholdest me in my integrity, and settest me before
thy face forever.
Psalm 78, verse 72, so he fed them according to the integrity of his heart, and guided
them by the skillfulness of his hands.
Proverbs 11, verse 3, the integrity of the upright shall guide them, but the perverseness
of transgressors shall destroy them.
You know, our integrity guides us.
It helps us to make the right decision, to go the right direction, to go the right
places.
Proverbs 19, 1, listen to this, better is the poor that walketh in his integrity
than he that is perverse in his lips and is a fool.
Proverbs 20, verse 7, the just man walketh in his integrity, his children are blessed
after him.
It is said right now that you are going to be a person that has integrity, and if you're
a little child, that means doing your school work with integrity, doing your chores around
the house with integrity, and as you grow up and become a teenager and you get
that first job, I don't care if you're flipping burgers or digging ditches, you
do it with integrity, and God's going to bless that, and he's going to give you
better opportunities going forward, and those of you that are adults, when you go to
your job, have integrity with your spouse, with your children, with your whatever you
do, have integrity, because integrity is something that is lacking today in our world,
and we need to bring integrity to our world and the people around us, and teach
those around us to walk with integrity, to be a church of integrity, and the people
of God should be known for, as Job was, known for their integrity.
Father, we thank you so much, Lord, for your word and for this concept that you've given us in the
Word of God about integrity, Lord. Thank you for Job and his example of
integrity, Lord. Help us to be like Job where we hold on to our integrity for
dear life and where it is one of our most important core values. Help us
never to cheat in sports, in games, whether in fun or in work, Lord, help us
never to cheat, and help us to always...